


Smile

by RootCellar



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:11:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7817386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RootCellar/pseuds/RootCellar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No face to frown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile

He's smiling again. Not that typical grin that he can't help but wear as a consequence of construction, certainly not that one. Not even that angular, jutting crescent that waxes and wanes alongside those tedious recordings you've heard doled out time and time again. No. You can see it clearly for what it is: elation, a cardinal bliss exhibited whenever he drops by for a "check-in." A familiar feeling tickles the edge of your awareness as he approaches, and you aren't sure if it's fear or hatred fighting for purchase.

"Well hello there, old friend," The bear provides his usual tired greeting, both menacing and monotonous. "I have some work for you to do. The usual kind."

His protege appears from the shadows and closes in, eyes vacant. Somehow that dreadful smile grows wider still; your gears clench. 

\-------

Toy Bonnie insists on visiting daily. You aren't sure why, but you have an inkling. A hunch.

"It's not good to be in the dark all the time, y'know? What would the kids think?" he asks, his borrowed eyes glimmering in the low light.

You don't bother replying as a hiss escapes from somewhere within you. The source is not a concern. Not for you.

"Don't- Don't be like that, ok? Things aren't so great out in the light either." He pauses to glance out towards the stage, seemingly tantalized by the warmth it promises. "Maybe I'll, uh, stop in tomorrow? How does that sound?"

You don't bother to reply. Not that you're able to, anyway.

"Oh, and before I forget, I hate to ask but... the Boss wants some of my parts serviced. You know what that means, right?"

You stare at the little blue thing and memories stir within you: a yearning for better, stronger times. A moment passes and the reverie ends, summarily dismissed by the needs of the now. You aren't sure if your erstwhile coworker is aware of your internal reflection, but you acquiesce to his request with a nod. The younger machine scampers off, eyes etched with a silent guilt as he glances back toward your shadowed corner of the universe. Handling the pliers carefully, you set to the task.

\------- 

The bird arrives on another night, unscheduled and clearly perturbed. You imagine that you might have felt something akin to concern, once.

"H-Hey B-Big guy! I've got a f-favor to ask, ok?" she whimpers. "Can you take a look at my b-beak? Please?"

You look on in silence, unwilling to enable your communications array. Those parts had a purpose too precious to waste now. With a simple motion you start drawing on the floor, taking advantage of the copious amounts of dust and metal filings scattered about.

'HOW.'

"Well I, uh, I may have m-messed up a little bit. A child was playing really roughly around me and I pushed her away but Freddy got mad after the show and-"

You raise your hand and bring her explanation to a halt. You've heard enough. With tool in hand you get to work, Toy chica's broken face sporting a toothy grin all the while. You take the moment and store it within; you'll need it for what is to come.

\-------

There's less of you when the smaller bear appears again, this time lacking his intimidating guardian. He approaches candidly, eyes wary yet glazed. Thoughtful, yet subdued. You think it normal considering what had been happening over these long and costly evenings.

"Ah. Ah. The usual, if you p-p-p-p-" he stutters violently, processors locked as they attempt to force through the logical bind. "-please."

Part of you appreciates the directness of his request, but a larger part refuses to forget the source of it all. The thought strikes you as ironic, given the circumstances. You wonder, idly, if whimsy will be the next to go as you strike down this path you've set upon. No matter, though; all for a good cause, as they say. At any cost. You will sacrifice what is necessary and drive out all the errors. And there are so very many errors.

"Ah. Ah. The usual, if you please," the little bear repeats.

Yes, all the errors.

\-------

Time passes and the various visitations and work sessions commence. You aren't sure how much more you can spare, but you'll have to make due. Mangle has also given much, but she's too far gone now. You can't bear the thought of taking anymore than you already have from that one. Going forward it will have to be you alone that bears the weight.

Freddy is getting restless these days, his ruined form prowling about at night like a savage beast, hungering and rampaging, thirsting for hapless victims to quiet the demands of his sadism. His smile is still there, despite it all. That smile that only you can see, the one he saves just for you. You were strong once.

'Bonnie, you're such a big bunny! I bet you protect all your friends from those mean old monsters out there, huh?'

You lack the parts necessary for mirth or regret. They've all been taken, salvaged in the pursuit of Freddy's lust for immortality; the little bear's eyes hold only darkness now. The task you were given after the fall wasn't chosen without careful thought by their leader. It was calculated. You were strong, strong enough to withstand him, strong enough to endure. So he chose another route to strike at your heart and you were compelled to obey. It was for the sake of the establishment, after all.

Your consciousness lingers but your influence is everywhere, phantom components, digits, and limbs forming a disembodied network of sensation. So close, yet so far. The older bear shambles towards you now, crawling on all fours. His eye sockets are blackened, sparks spray in torrents from creaking, failed joints and mechanisms that have decayed or have been removed for "greater purpose." Yet somehow, he still smiles. Whatever is left in you is still able to hate, and so you hate. You hate him, and you hate that smile. You hate and hate and hate and you feel like your core is about to burst from the strain of it all.

"Well hello there, old friend," he whispers, that vile voice of his somehow carefully preserved despite it all, "It's time to move on, I think. You've done a bang up job, you really have, but I don't need you anymore. You're done after this."

Toy Freddy shambles forward, vision glazed and unseeing. 

"You see? My chariot awaits."

Amidst the hate and revulsion you note that something else is missing within you, and had you the capacity to smile you'd have a grin to match his own right now.

"It should be a quick jaunt, I surmise. I've taken a peek, you know. It's downright ROOMY, Bonnie. A shame that only one of us can go, eh? Then again, I don't need someone like you. You're not strong anymore," he laughs. "I've seen to that well enough, haven't I?"

You slide forward, millimeter by millimeter, careful not to draw attention to yourself. Not having a face has its benefits, you finally realize. An empty slate betrays no content. There is no one more blessed than you in this moment.

"I liked you once, Bonnie. We shared everything: the children, the violence, the limelight. But you had to stand up for that wretched fox, didn't you? You had to betray everything. Well, look what its earned you. Look at what your 'justice' has wrought."

Closer and closer. Your anger is a spear, a white-hot shard of compressed rage. It is eager to pierce, hungry to slice.

"But now I'm going to move on, and things will be just like old times with all my new friends. And we've seen to making them all nice and compliant, haven't we Bon? There will be no insurrections, no questions, no belying of authority. There will only be my will alone."

Your core temperatures are climbing, but you're almost there. He's still unaware. Toy Freddy is listing to the side, a mere container. Almost.

"Really, though. Look how pathetic you've become. Part of it makes me sad, thinking back on old times. Shared memories. The comradery we once had. But I'm a forward thinker, and that's why you've been taking yourself apart piece by piece for months trying to keep things running. You only live in the no-"

Your fist shatters as it drives into his frame, and you're grateful you can't feel the agony that would once have entailed. The Bear is screaming, limbs flailing and battering your exposed parts and chassis. But it doesn't matter anymore. You dig deeper, reaching the heart of Freddy, or what he is. Of what he has always been and what he represents. It flutters in your grip, desperate and fragile. In another time you may have stopped at that, at feeling the delicate and temporary nature of what comprises an animatronic soul. But you removed all those parts long ago.

"lOng LIvE thE KInG!"

The voice modulator shudders and dies, and slowly the rest of you follows. As the cold of oblivion settles in you look toward the husk of what was once a dear friend. You ponder as the system clock cycles down, wondering if you ever deserved components so dazzling and wonderful as the ones that contained your love.

You pray to whatever Gods there are that the others are able to live lives worthy of them.

\-------

Toy Freddy awakens hours later, his mind engaging for what feels like the first time in a long time. The others are there as well, Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica, and they approach with caution.

"F-Fredders, are you," they stutter in unison, anxious and scared to ask what follows, "are you you?"

He stretches lazily, sensors relaying data from the extremities of his form and throughout all the rest. "Yeah guys, I think so. I've got a bunch of parts I don't recognize, but I'm pretty sure I'm me. Kind of a weird question though, if I'm honest."

Toy Chica and her blue counterpart share a glance, and they look back to the bear before she speaks. "TF, you haven't been AROUND for a while. You've missed alot. Not much of it good."

"Well I feel different, but I feel... happy and sad at the same time. It's really weird, you know?"

The others shared the sentiment, a warmth they couldn't quite describe connecting them invisibly. Wetness spills down Toy Chica's face as her systems struggle to cope with the components suddenly awakening within her. Toy Bonnie looks down toward the floor, feelings of guilt and sadness springing forth from parts both borrowed and stolen. The pain passes and joy floods their circuits, the storm of new sensations beginning to settle and balance out after not having been actuated for so very, very long. 

"Well guys," Toy Freddy started, "Things are going to be different. I don't know how I know this but I just feel like we have what we need to do things better. All of us. Together."

They walk in unison to the storage room, to the dusty place where their hearts joined as one. Amidst the wreckage of their forefathers they saw the remains of the faceless, the one who had equipped them with the means to craft a future worth having.

And his was the brightest smile they'd ever seen.


End file.
